And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever — the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
(John 14:16-18 NKJ)

Friday, April 06, 2007

TGIF

Thank God It’s Friday

Today as I have been contemplating the most blessed of all holidays I realized how appropriate the following saying really is: “Thank God It’s Friday!” This saying has become very popular as an expression of gladness regarding the fact that the “work week” is ending.

How marvelous this little saying is for true Christians. Truly each week this saying should cause us to rejoice in the goodness of Good Friday.

From the time that the Lord Jesus assumed human flesh He was busy working to accomplish what absolutely no other person could accomplish. This work began even from eternity as the Son of God in unity with the Father and the Spirit planned to save Man from all the suffering that sin would impose. Every day of the life of the Son of Man, this Good Friday was anticipated. He suffered for us each and every day as He moved ever closer to this glorious day of suffering and death, blood and sacrifice. He came to the world for this singular purpose. This was the crowning day of His ministry. This was the goal toward which He set His heart all the days of His life on this earth.

In speaking of this day He spoke of His great joy. He spoke of yearning for this day to be fulfilled. Surely it was a heavy burden. Yet He knew the ones for whom He carried this burden and so He carried with loving joy.

By nine o’clock on this day He was already fastened to our cross. At the beginning of this day, twilight of the day we call Maundy Thursday, He gave birth to the Church of the New Testament, bringing it into existence with the declaration of the New Testament in His blood. By midday the true weight that He carried became apparent to all as the sky turned dark and remained so until the Savior’s work was finished. By three o’clock in the afternoon, Jesus had finished the work that He came to accomplish and could cry out on behalf of us all, “Thank God It’s Friday!” Yes, “Tetelestai” or “It is finished!”

The work was over. By twilight Jesus rested in the earth in a sinner’s tomb. The work of mankind’s salvation was accomplished. All the suffering of life in this world of sin was over. The true Sabbath Day had finally arrived. Peace on earth and good will toward men was finalized. The body of Christ was now at rest from all the world’s sin.

If only the members of the body of Christ had understood. Then they would have known the peace that their Lord had purchased for them. But instead, they hid in fear.

How often we do likewise. We experience suffering and struggle in our lives and we think of life as a burden. We become disappointed and fearful, even angry. When these continue, our anger becomes depression and we can no longer see any way out.

If only we would remember the saying of true faith, “Thank God It’s Friday!”

Then we would remember that our burdens have already been carried for us all the way to Friday. What we so often count as our burdens, really are our burdens, because we have made them our burdens. This is always the way when we look to our own thoughts, words, and deeds. When this is our pattern of thinking, all that we find is more of the same, endless heaviness and failure.

Instead, we could and should be remembering the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. We should rest in the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. For this peace truly has been won for us. Life’s battle has already been fought and our Lord Jesus conquered all for us. Nothing can ever beat us down again, unless we beat ourselves by looking away from the works that Jesus completed for us on Friday. If we look away from the works of our Lord to our own works for our hope and joy, well, who do we have to blame for our sorrows?

About Me

I am an Evangelical Lutheran pastor who earns his living as an arborist. I own my own small tree company, All Tree, and operate in Wichita, KS. I list Arborist before Pastor under Occupation because I earn my living as an arborist but my vocation is that of Pastor. I am an arborist because I take care of trees, but I am a pastor because proclaiming the Gospel of Christ crucified is my life. I can choose to stop trimming trees, but to stop proclaiming the Gospel would be to stop breathing.
Web sites for business and congregation are:
[All Tree];
[Bride of Christ ELC]